Due to advanced age, certain medical conditions, or other factors, some individuals find it difficult to lower themselves down to a seated position or raise themselves up from a seated position. Home furniture generally is not designed for persons with this difficulty and results in increased physical stress and strain from what is a common daily activity. These individuals also sometimes suffer from conditions that affect the circulatory and/or nervous systems, with the result that being seated for too long can cause health issues.
Specialized furniture is available that can help alleviate the difficulty in sitting and standing, but most conventional mechanisms for such lift furniture operate in such a way that entering and leaving the seat is awkward and involves a dumping motion as the seat moves the user from a seated position to a standing position. Further, such lift chairs shift dramatically from their lifted state to the seated state and require significant front and rear clearance for use. Some options also exist for reducing the strain of prolonged seating on the body, but are primarily passive systems such as specialized cushions, air mattresses, or active “massage” mechanisms.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved seat that can be raised and lowered so that a person can sit or stand without any awkward motions—such as falling back into a seat or being dumped from a seat—and/or that can provide a gentle and unobtrusive variation in the seating surface over time so as to reduce the damage that prolonged sitting can cause the body.